The hardline loyalists were told that provisions for the language in the agreement would "only enshrine in legislation" rights already available.

The briefings are understood to have taken place on Sunday February 11 – less than 24 hours before before Leo Varadkar and Theresa May visited Belfast amid expectation that a deal to restore power-sharing was imminent.

Speaking in Brussels yesterday, Mrs Foster said she was not claiming that discussions did not happen but she was unaware of any briefings and had not personally sanctioned them.

"I have absolutely no knowledge of that – if people were briefing organisations they were doing it on their own behalf, they certainly weren't doing it on behalf of me or the Democratic Unionist Party," she said.

"I'm not saying it didn't take place, I'm saying they didn't do it on my behalf or on behalf of the Democratic Unionist Party."

The leaking of last month's 'draft agreement' and debate around what the DUP negotiating team was potentially prepared to sign up to is proving an embarrassment for Mrs Foster, whose media appearances have been limited since she collapsed the talks three weeks ago.

Yesterday she was forced to issue a second statement is as many days refuting speculation around the exchange of documents with Sinn Féin in the period leading up the collapse of the Stormont talks.

On Monday, the former first minister denied reports that she handed Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill a copy of a draft agreement on Friday February 9, just days ahead of the taoiseach and prime minister's Belfast visit.

The DUP leader said "draft papers" were exchanged on a daily basis but that none had any standing.